messing around at the staion

We were missing Ran pretty bad today so we stopped by the station for a visit. Kaiden is getting more and more comfortable at the fire station and had a blast messing with EVERYTHING!!!!

He loves to set off the sirens, climb on the trucks, push buttons, talk on the head phones, make new firefighter friends, put on Ran's air tank and fire gear, check out whats in the fridge, and cabinets, and bathrooms, and closets...and the best part - seeing the HUGE ladder go up, and up, and up, and up!

I've know I've been going a bit crazy with the photo blogs but I can't help it! We really love to share what we're up to with you guys and pictures seem to be the easiest way. Check out Flickr for more!

Happy Birthday America!

Yesterday Randy and Kaiden were in the North Port 4th of July parade!
Mother Nature was trying to stop the parade with all the rain she was puring down.
But they still marched!
Of course we sat in the pouring rain cheering them on like crazy!
Kaiden was beyond proud to be in the parade (as you can see by that look on his face).

Later in the evening we went to my mom's house for some swimming, poppers, steak dinner, peanut butter pie, and sparklers. This has definately been the most memorable 4th of July yet!

visit to the station

We went to see Randy at the fire station today! Kaiden had such a blast sitting in all of the trucks, looking in every compartment, and asking every question imaginable!

OK, long story about the tortoises....Q, the crooked one, was missing for about 6 months. We assumed he was dead or just ran away. Then one evening Addy, our neighbor, was at our front door with him! She had found him under her trash can! A week later she was at our door again - with Chomp, the big one! She found him under her trash can too!!! We didn't even know Chomp had gotten out. So somehow the two tortoises had some sort of communication to find one another in Addy's yard under her trash can. Of all the places they could have gone! And Q being gone for so long and then popping up like that? Very strange. But we are so glad to have them home again! Randy even made them their own little house hoping they would be happier and think of staying in our yard and not running away again!

5/24 FIRE!

At 6pm on Thursday May 24, I was dispatched to a brush fire in North Port. "They say, its the biggest one we've had in at least 5 years!" It was wickedly intense. My tanker was the third truck on scene. My partner and I tried to hit the fire at its head, but it soon engulfed us. We were surrounded 360 degrees by fire. It was an "OH SH*T" moment. We called for 4 tactical response units, a total 0f 30 trucks and 2 helicopters responded. It took 6 hours to control the fire and all we lost was a boat, trampoline, and a pool cage. It was an aggressive fire with a large fuel load and strong winds which made it difficult to control. Good times. You can find news footage here